>>13410060The way to the grandmaster is long and winding, but he will make it in the end. Don't forget the WK four way was the match that really changed people's perceptions of him in the first place. Some, like myself, always saw the dimes in him but he had to work long and hard to convince people he wasn't a failure; I remember the way people talked about him for a while after that botched jackknife pin at Dominion '21.
He did have a good year year in '22, with how much commentary like bringing up statistics and match records I don't know why they didn't make more of this leading up to WK17 but he was the only one of the four to get a pinfall or submission on each of his opponents in the previous year. Even with how good his title match against Despe that year was, I'm not sure he would have won BoSJ last year if he didn't put in such an amazing showing in the WK match. When he does win the belt he should dedicate his win to hand, foot and mouth disease for making it all possible.
Here's hoping this is the year DOUKI, the Despe to Wato's Hiromu, finally gets his due as well.
